Combined pressure exhauster and cooker



Nov. 12,1935. A. R. THOVMPSQQN I COMBINED PRESSURE EXHAUSTER AND COOKER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 25, 1932 film-A? .7 BY aw Nov. 12, 1935. A R THO P ON 2,020,342

COMBINED PRESSURE EXHAUSTER AND COOKER ,Filed Jan. 25, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 VENTOR,

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Patented new. 1 2, 1935- UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE Albert R. Thompson, San Jose, Calif., assignor to .Food Machinery Corporation, San Jose, Calif.,

a corporation of Delaware Application January 26, 1932, serial No. 589,028.

' 9 Claims. (01. 126272) My invention relates to those stages of the canning art which involve in common practise what is termed the first and the final cooks, and which are the functions of distinct machines known as the exhaust-box and the cooker.

The nature of my invention and itsobjects will best be ascertained by reference to the full explanation which. herein follows the detailed disclosure of the apparatus, thereby avoiding repetition or at least too brief a preliminary statement which in any case would require reference to a more complete later description.

It may be stated, however, that my invention consists in the novel method ofexhausting and 16 cooking in a single treatment, and in the novel apparatus by which said method is carried out, all as will hereinafter be fully described.

The general object of the invention is to effeet a saving in plant equipment.

20 In the accompanying drawings, I have shown the apparatus in its preferred form, though it is to be understood that changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the claims hereunto appended.

26 Fig.. 1 is a side elevation, with parts broken -away, of my vertical pressure exhauster and cooker.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the same. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1. 30 Fig. 4 is a modification of the discharge valve.

Upon a base I is mounted in upright or vertical position a shell 2, the ends of the shell being closed by suitable heads 3.

Upon the inner surface of the shell, from top 3 to bottom, is a helical can track 4, preferably of angle section, the inwardly extending flange of which forms a shelf upon which the cans 5 are supported upright and are slidably advanced throughout the length of the track.

40 Concentrically mounted within the shell and adapted for rotation therein about a vertical axis is a reel comprising a peripheral series of spaced pusher bars 6 preferably of angle section, rings 1 carrying said bars, brace rods 8 and 45 end gears 9, all in well known assembly in horizontal cookers and particularly in vertical coolers, used in the canning art, to engage each can separately, and positively advance it along the helical track. To the side of the shell at its upper end 50 is fitted the feed valve' in through which the cans are successively introduced, each to its place upon the helical track 4 between the spaced pusher bars 6; and to the side of the shell at its lower end is similarly fitted the discharge valve H 55 through whichthe cans are delivered. Each of these valves is pressure tight, as is usual with valves associated with pressure chambers, so that loss of fluidpressure is'avoided as the cans pass receive the can and pass it into or out of the chamber without permitting the escape of pressure fluid. With the details of the valves herein by which they are made properly fluid-tight, the present invention is not concerned; Accordingly 10 it is deemed sufficient to indicate-as comprised in each valve 9. horizontally disposed pocket turret I 2 mounted for rotation about a vertical axis in a housing l3, and having a connection at M communicating with the interior of the shell 2,- all connections and movable parts being fluid tight.

As part of the present invention, however, the following novel features with respect to the valves are to be noted: First, as to the feed valve I0. Fitted to its housing l3 and communicating with the interior thereof is a pipe I 5 which leads to an exhauster "5 by means of which a reduced pressure is maintained in the valve structure.

Second, as to the discharge valve I I. At intervals around its housing l3 are fitted pressure relief pipes l| which operate under successively lower pressures, as,ffor example, by means of ordinary relief valves Ill. The discharge valve ll may be a single valve of sufficient size to provide for reaching the desired pressure reduction prior to the cans exit, or as shown in Fig. 4, it may be adouble structure, in order to insure time enough for said reduction.

Beside the shell 2 of the treating chamberand conveniently joined thereto by a bracket l 9 is an elevator to lift the cans to the feed valve In. This comprises an upright closed shell 20 within which there is a helical can track 2| and a rotating reel of spaced pusher bars 22,'-the assemblage 40 being like that heretofore described in connection with the interior parts of the treating chamber shell 2.

At its upper portion the elevator communicates with the feed valve l8, and at its lower portion it has communication with a feeder by which the cans are supplied to it. This feeder may be of any suitable kind. For the sake of illustration, I

more specific details are shafts 28 of the pocket turrets I! of the feedand discharge valves l and II respectively. The reel of the elevator is geared to the shaft 28 of the feed valve pocket turret.

The method of treatment and the operation of the apparatus will now be described.

In the canning art, as commonly practised, the filled or partly filled cans while still open are passed through a socalled exhaust box, in which they are subjected to heat known as the first cook, sufiicient only to drive out the air; 'andthence are passed to the sealing device to hermetically close them; and thence to the cooker in which they are subjected to sufiiciently high temperature under pressure to give their contents the final cook.

Contrasted with this practise my method contemplates a single treatment by which both results of exhausting the air and cooking the commodity are attained; and since the'cans while undergoing such treatment must necessarily be open their contents must, in some manner, be prepared for the thorough cooking efiect of the heat. This will be more fully understood as followsz-The cooking heat is commonly had by steam'injected into the treating chamber under pressure suflicient to raise the temperature to. approximately 290 F. In applying such steam .cooking heat to unexhausted open cans, I found that with some commodities, which like beans,

' peas, and other comestibles, tend to pack closely,

the cook was not perfect throughout, particularly a in the lower portion of the can, a result which I ascribed to the possibility of the steam driving to the can bottom and there entrapping the air; and this I was able to verify by tentatively making a small vent in the bottom of the can through -which the air escaped, so that the contents oi! the can cooked equally throughout. This remedy was of course impracticable, since the cans should not be thus perforated, but it led to the true solution, especially in view of the further fact that in the case of pineapples the slices of which are centrally apertured no trouble at all was found in equally cooking throughout, since the air was not trapped but escape through the apertures of the slices.

In carrying out my method of cooking under pressure, in open cans, it will now be understood that in view of the foregoing explanation, there are comprised in it two essential steps. The first is that when operating on comestibles tending to pack to air-entrapping density, it is necessary to subject the said comestibles to an air exhausting eifect more or less intense, independently of and before subjecting them to the steam pressure heating effect; and the second is that with commodities of any kind, in view of the fact the cans are open, the relief of pressure upon their discharge from the treating chamber must not be immediate, that is to say, all at once, since in such case the can contents will inevitably blow out through the open top; but such pressure relief must be by successively reducing stages, or in some way gradual.

Second, as to the operation of the apparatus. The open'cans with their commodity content, are

fed upright and in single file by the table 23 and star wheel 24 to the elevator shell 2!, and each can entered therein to its well fitting space between the pusher bars 22 in said shell. By the rotation of the said bars the cans are pushed 5 under complete control and without agitation, upward along-the helical track 2| from its lower end or feed height to its upper end, and thence passed into the housing I3 of the feed valve I to and upon the rotating pocket turret l2 thereof, by which they are successively transferred.

each to its own space between the pusher bars 6 within the shell 2 of the pressurecooking chamber. As the cans are passing through the housing l3 of the feed valve Ill, they are deprived of 16 air more or less, due to the reduced pressure therein occasioned by the exhauster I 6.

In the treating chamber, the necessary cooking temperature is had by steam admitted under pressure from a suitable source, not shown, and 20 in said chamber the upright open cans, under the positive control of the pusher bars 5 slide down the helical track 4 quietly and with no tendency to spill their contents, and no possibility of hesitancy or obstruction, to the discharge valve ll. Under the pressure and temperature maintained, and the time of travel through the treating chamber, the cooking is complete and equal throughout the can content, no difficulty arising from entrapped air which is 80 either removed independently of the steam pressure or by reason thereof according to the nature of the commodity.

As the cans pass out into the discharge valve II, the pressure is relieved in successive stages 85 by the pipes l1 and relief valves l8 so that when they are finally delivered the pressure is normal and no blow out or explosion occurs.

I claim:-

1. A cooking apparatus comprising an upright shell under internal pressure and at full-cooking temperature; a pressure tight feed valve for introducing to said shell, filled opencans in upright position; means for exhausting said open cans of air prior to their introduction to the shell, means within the shell for conveying the cans in upright position therethrough; and a pressure tight discharge valve for delivering the cans from the shell.

2. A cooking apparatus comprising a shell under internal pressure and at full-cooking tern.- perature; a pressure tight feed valve for introducing to said shell, filled open cans in upright position; means for exhausting said open cans of air prior to their introduction to the shell; means 66 within the shell for conveying the cans in upright position therethrough; a pressure tight discharge valve for delivering the cans from the shell; and means for relieving the contents of the cans, as said cans pass through the discharge valve, of 00 pressure by gradual reduction thereof.

3. A cooking apparatus comprising a shell under internal pressure and at full-cooking temperature; a. pressure tight feed valve for introducing to the shell, filled open cans in upright 06 position; means for exhaustingsaidopen cans of air prior to their introduction to the shell; means within the shell for conveying the cans in upright position therethrough; and a pressure tight discharge valve for delivering the cans 10 from the shell.

4. A cooking apparatus comprising a sheli under internal pressure and at full-cooking temperature; a pressure tight feed valve for introducing to the shell, filled open cans in un lsht 1'8 within the shell for conveying the cans in up-- position; means for exhausting said open cans or air as they pass through the feed valve; means right position therethrough; a pre'ssure tight discharge valve for delivering the cans from the shell; and means for relieving the contents of the cans as said cans pass through the discharge valve, of pressure by gradual reduction thereof.

5. A cooking apparatus comprising a pressure cooker; means for passing open cans upright therethrough; a pressure tight. feed valve for passingthe open cans upright into the upper portion of said cooker; means for exhausting said open cans of air prior to their introduction to the cooker; and an elevator for supplying the open cans upright to the feed valve.

cooker; and an elevator for supplying the cans upright to the turret of said feed valve.

7. A cooking apparatus comprising a pressure cooker; .means for passing open cans upright therethrough; a, pressure tight feed valve having a horizontally disposed pocket turret mounted for rotation about a vertical axis for passing the open cans upright into the upper portion or said cooker; means for exhausting said open cans of air prior to their introduction to the cooker; and an elevator for supplying the cans upright to the turret of said feed valve. 5

8. A cooking apparatus comprising a pressure cooker; means for passing open caps upright therethrough; a pressure tight feed valve having a horizontally disposed pocket turret mounted for rotation about a vertical axis for passing the open cans upright into the upper portion of said' cooker; means for exhausting said open cans of air while passing through said teed valve; and an elevator for supplying the cans upright to the turret of said feed valve. I 9, In a cooking apparatus, a pressure cooker including a pressure tight chamber, means for passing a continuous stream of filled, open cans therethrough in upright position, means for maintaining said chamber under internal pressure and at a temperature sufiicient to sterilize the contents of the cans passing therethrough, means associated with said chamber'for applying a vacuum to said cans prior to their introduction into said chamber, and means for passing said stream of upright cans through said vacuumizing means and introducing them into said cooker chamber while under said vacuum,

ALBERT R. THOMPSON. 

